Laissez-faire and Situational Leadership Styles as Determinants of Institutional Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Ikeja, Lagos State Nigeria

Abstract

The study was aimed at investigating laissez-faire and situational leadership styles as determinants of institutional performance in Ikeja. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between laissez-faire and situational leadership styles and institutional performance of public secondary schools in Ikeja Lagos State. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 615 teachers from all he 36 senior secondary schools in Ikeja out of which 242 teachers were sampled using simple random sampling technique, The instrument for data collection was a researcher-structured questionnaire titled Leadership style and institutional performance questionnaire (LSIPQ). The instrument was validated by experts in the Faculty of Education. The reliability coefficient was determined using Cronbach Alpha approach and the reliability yielded 0. The research questions were answered using pearson product moment correlation coefficient. The hypotheses were tested using same. The findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between laissez-faire leadership style and institutional performance in public secondary schools in Ikeja. The findings also showed that there was no significant relationship between situational leadership style and institutional performance in public secondary schools in Ikeja.  It was recommended that principals should give teachers the freedom to take initiatives and manage responsibilities independently, while ensuring that expectations and goals remain clear. It was also recommended that leadership programmes should be organized by the ministry of education to train principals on how to assess varying school contexts and respond appropriately to different situations for better institutional performance outcomes.